The pen is mightier than the truncheon...

The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, will announce plans today that give police the power to openly harass antisocial youth by hounding them at their homes, following them about, and also arbitrarily filming them in the streets. It certainly sounds a little bit drastic, but is part of the government's plans to win back voters by using unprecedented hardcore techniques in order to deal with some of the country's most deeply-rooted problems.

The idea was inspired by the police force in Essex who have consulted the constabulary rhyming dictionary to come up with the concept of "Frame and Shame". Basically, this means that eager young policemen will film the antics of England's crimson youth and then let everybody know about it. Where would we be with out the video camera?

Obviously, it is expected that the news will irritate human rights groups, especially if the targets of the campaign haven't actually been found guilty of any criminal offence. But then again, perhaps the majority of human rights campaigners don't live on the same estates as the youth that are being targeted.

A police spokesperson from the Essex said: "The aim is to target a small group of persistent offenders by openly filming them, knocking on their doors, following them on the estate and repeatedly searching them, as well as warning them in no uncertain terms that local people have identified them as lawbreakers."

We'll avoid the obvious Orwellian comparisons, it seems like that's already in the bag. Another way of looking at it, though, could be as beauracracy gone mad: further plans to tackle antisocial behaviour involve young offenders signing contracts called ABCs (Acceptable Behaviour Contracts), which stipulate that the signatory will promise to behave within a circumscribed set of guidelines. Yeah, that'll work..

In modern day Britain, it seems that the pen is becoming mightier than the truncheon..

Written by Oli Anderson on 8 May 2008 10:02 AM. There are 0 comments so far. Permalink